On June 29, Dagestan’s President, Magomedsalam Magomedov, delivered his first annual presidential address to the parliament and people of the republic. Magomedov described the contemporary situation in the republic as “complicated, problematic and even prone to crisis.” He tried to strike a balance between criticizing... MORE

Russian officials have reiterated pledges to pursue pro-active Far Eastern energy policies, backed by sizable investments. Moscow would invest up to $100 billion to develop new natural gas deposits in the next five years, Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Sechin, announced (Interfax, RIA Novosti, June 18).... MORE

President, Dmitry Medvedev, can consider his visit to the US successful, but it was still not good enough to put relations on a sure footing. He enjoyed new gadgets in Silicon Valley and hamburgers with US President, Barack Obama, he tried to make the best... MORE

US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, paid a six-hour visit to Georgia on July 5, as part of a tour of five countries in five days. Her Georgia visit was the first by a top US official since Vice-President, Joseph Biden, visited exactly one year... MORE

International demand for Azeri gas (EDM, July 1) is also rising outside the European Union. It is mostly driven by the anticipation of post-crisis industrial recovery and by considerations of supply security through diversification.Russia’s Gazprom is preparing in its own way for Europe’s post-crisis recovery.... MORE

Kyrgyzstan’s June 27 referendum on the new constitution defied most skeptics’ expectations –it occurred amid relative calm across Kyrgyzstan and a large number of the ethnic Uzbek minority managed to cast their votes, despite the recent violence in southern parts of the country. Significantly, amongst... MORE

On June 21, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, paid a visit to Kazakhstan. Davutoglu met his Kazakh counterpart, Kanat Saudabayev, and President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, to discuss the situation in Kyrgyzstan as well as bilateral relations. The two nations agreed to coordinate their assistance to Kyrgyzstan.... MORE

Strained relations between the United States and China took center stage during the June 4-6 Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) in Singapore, the annual meeting of Asia Pacific defense ministers, military officers, diplomats and academics organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and attended... MORE

Six months after Aleksandr Khloponin was appointed as the Russian president’s envoy to the specially created North Caucasus Federal District, it can be safely concluded that he has not brought anything new or particularly important to Russia’s troubled region. An attempt to shift Russia’s policy... MORE

The sinking of the Republic of Korea’s (ROK) Corvette, Cheonan, on March 26, has proven to be a slow-building crisis, but one fraught with grave risks of conflict on the Korean peninsula. Moscow’s response has revealed much about the limits affecting Russian policy in the... MORE